Ford Motor Co. is sponsoring a man’s journey down Route 66 in the company’s Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle, according to a St. Louis media outlet.
KMOV-TV reported that Ford “is sponsoring the first electric car to travel Route 66.” The driver is Alan Winninger, who spent Monday night in St. Louis after driving the Mach-E, which can go 305 miles on one charge.
To make it clear, multiple electric cars have traveled Route 66 before.
Winninger says the EV industry is pushing for more chargers to be placed strategically around the country.
“The industry as a whole, for EV’s, realizes there needs to be a charging station every 51 miles. So all across the country, we’re going to have to adapt to putting in charging stations at least every 51 miles to be able to safely go wherever you need to go,” he said.
The Telsa Supercharger map indicates that particular company, at least, is close to that 50-miles-per-charger goal — at least along Route 66. Tucumcari, New Mexico, where I live of less than 5,000 people, contains at least three EV charging stations.
But, yeah, getting enough charging stations sprinkled throughout the continent will continue to be a challenge — especially in more sparsely populated sections of the western U.S.
More about Winninger’s Route 66 trip in the Mustang EV can be found here.
According to company specs, the Mustang Mach-E starts at about $44,000 and sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.
(Image of the Ford Mustang Mach-E at the Palmer House hotel in Chicago from the Route 66 Centennial website)